Freedom
by RodentFace
Summary: Rose wants Scorpius to invite his parents to their wedding, but he doesn't.  Draco does come and his officially changes.  The story is MUCH better than the summary.  I'd like to think that I'm better at writing that summarizing.


Author's Note: I've been writing this for a while. I started it at one angle, but as I started writing, it went a completely different direction. Despite this, actually, because of this, I'm really, really proud of how it turned out. I started this as a cute Rose/Scorpius where Rose wanted Scorpius to invite his parents to their wedding and when he refused, she invited them for him. As you can see, this is where the story started, but then it took a different turn and it became my Draco redeeming story. I really hope that it doesn't veer too far from canon, but then again, it's fanfiction. Rarely does it ever stay completely faithful to canon. Enjoy. Even if you don't, please review. I love people's input on my stories!

Disclaimer: This would _totally _be part of the epilogue if I owned Harry Potter. Clearly, I do not.

"Scorpius, they're your _parents!_" Rose shouted exasperatedly at her fiancé, Scorpius.

"I know care. They wouldn't come anyway!" he said nonchalantly but somehow still bitterly. He plopped down on the couch and crossed his arms, scowling.

"Look, I know that you guys _claim _to want nothing to do with each other, but you and I both know that you still care about them! And I'm sure that they care about you too," she said sitting down next to him and putting an arm around him. "This is your _wedding!_ Surely you want to at least _tell _your parents about it, even if you don't want to invite them. This is supposed to be the most important day of your life! Why wouldn't you want your parents to be involved?"

"Hmm. Let's think. Why wouldn't I want the people who _kicked me out_ for just _dating _you to be at our wedding? Gee, Rose, when you think about it that way, I just can't come up with an answer," he said sarcastically.

Rose scowled at him. "They're still your parents. No matter what they do, have done, or will do, they're still your parents."

"Yeah, and how do you think _your _parents are going to take it? I mean, last I checked, if our fathers thought they could get away with it, they would kill each other."

"You realize that at weddings, they divide guests of the bride and guests of the groom? Yeah, there is this aisle in between. We can just keep our parents as separate as possible and make sure that my dad doesn't have too much to drink. I'll have Mum be in charge of that," Rose said.

"It doesn't matter. I don't want to invite my parents. It's just not going to happen. I have to go," Scorpius stood up and headed towards the front door. He mumbled something about getting new dress robes with Al, but Rose wasn't fooled.

"Why do you have such a problem with it!" she shouted angrily.

Scorpius just looked at her warily. "I'm not sure which would be worse. My parents coming or my parents refusing to come." With that, he disapperated.

Rose let out an angry sound that was a combination of a shriek and a snarl. She plopped down on the couch and crossed her arms and legs so tightly that it looked unlikely that they would unravel for several years. She much resembled her mother after her father destroyed the locket and came back when the Golden Trio was out searching for the Horcruxes. Slowly, she began to smile. She stood up and ran to her room. She dragged a large box into the living room. It was full of keepsakes from her years at Hogwarts. Mainly it consisted of letters; most of these letters were from Scorpius.

Rose thumbed through them and picked out some of the most recent ones. She selected a plain white quill from the bottom of the box and smiled at the joke products that her Uncle George came up with.

This quill was no ordinary quill. If you traced a few letters or numbers with it, it would memorize the handwriting of the person who wrote said letters/numbers and would write anything using that handwriting. It was very useful for writing late passes and permission slips when one found themselves without. However, this would work perfectly for what Rose was about to do. She traced a few sentences of Scorpius' letters with the quill and walked over to her desk.

She pulled out a new piece of parchment and began to write:

"Dear Mum and Dad,

In a few months, Rose and I will be getting married…."

XXX

An owl landed in front of Draco. It was lunch and he and Astoria were, as usual, not speaking to each other. He had tried not to chew too loudly so not to make Astoria start screaming at him again. He had tried not to look like he wanted to say anything so not to make Astoria start screaming at him again. He had tried not to look too bored so not to make Astoria start screaming at him, but this letter was an excellent distraction. He quickly read it, so not to make Astoria angry at him for reading at the table, but what he read made no sense. He pocketed the letter and returned to eating his lunch and listening to the silence.

XXX

Rose reread "Scorpius'" letter to his parents. She thought that she'd done a pretty good job at pretending to be him. She'd phrased her sentences the exact same way that he would have and yet, something was wrong. She glanced at it once again and tossed it in the fire.

She couldn't do something like that to Scorpius.

She began writing another letter:

"Dear Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy,

My name is Rose Weasley, soon to be Rose Malfoy. In a few months, I will be marrying your son, Scorpius…"

XXX

"So, Astoria," Draco said nonchalantly. "I've heard that Scorpius and Rose are getting married."

"Oh?" she asked. "And what do you care?"

"I don't know," he shrugged. "I just thought that it was a little interesting."

"Well, I don't!" she snapped. She turned to leave the room. "I'd really rather not hear about him and the half-blood scum!"

Draco had not expected a better reaction. "We're invited."

She rounded on him. "ARE YOU INTENDING ON GOING!"

"I haven't decided," he replied calmly.

"You'd better not. After all I've done to keep our image, it's bad enough with that _son _of ours running off with a half-blood without you giving them your blessing."

Draco nodded. "You're right."

XXX

Scorpius thought about what Rose had said. He started to write:

"Dear Dad,

Rose and I are getting married in a few months…"

XXX

Another owl arrived for Draco. This time, Astoria was out with a friend so he was able to read it more thoroughly.

_Dear Dad,_

_ Rose and I are getting married in a few months and I'd really like you to be there. I know you don't approve of my relationship with Rose, but I really love her. This is the most important day in my life and I'd love for you to be a part of it. You've probably already gotten and invitation from Rose (even though I didn't want to invite you for a while), but I really mean this. Please come._

_Love,_

_Scorpius_

After reading this letter, Draco reread the first one. In the first letter, Rose had said that Scorpius had told her that he didn't want them to come, but in the second letter, Scorpius made it seem as though he _really _wanted him to come. Draco noticed something else. Rose's letter had been addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy. Scorpius' had been addressed to Dad, just Draco. Clearly, Scorpius only wanted him to come.

Draco didn't know which letter was true, nor did he care. His mind had been made up. He was going to his son's wedding.

XXX

Draco had told Astoria that he and Blaise had gone out for drinks (Blaise and Daphne had promised to cover for him) and that he might be out for a while.

Rather than letting anyone know that he was there, Draco came slightly late and sat in the back so that no one would see him.

As he was sitting in the back, Astoria hadn't come, and Ron was going to walk his daughter down the aisle, Hermione was the only parent who was led to her seat ceremoniously. Her face was streaked with tears, though, Draco could tell that they were most definitely happy ones.

Draco noted that Scorpius, while looking nervous, had never grinned more broadly in his life; or at least, not that Draco had seen. Albus Potter, Harry's mini-me, was the best man and some girl that looked like Parvati Patil (_What was her name? _though Draco, _Oh right! Julie Thomas!_) was the maid of honor.

When Ron led Rose down the aisle, Draco noted, with much amusement, that he too was crying. Not quite as much as his wife, but it was a little harder to tell whether these were happy or miserable tears.

"I do," Scorpius said. His voice had cracked slightly from nerves. That's when Draco realized it. Seeing his son gazing at Rose (even if she was his enemies' daughter) absolutely in love, Draco realized that no matter how hard he tried, he could stay angry at his son. He couldn't even go back to living his life the way it'd been. His son had turned his back upon worrying about image and blood status and he couldn't have been happier. Draco knew that after this day, he would never be able to live like that again. He was going to get out; just like his son had.

XXX

"I do," Rose Weasley…no Malfoy said, clearly. Her voice didn't crack like Scorpius' had.

"You may kiss the bride."

Just as Scorpius leaned down to kiss her, Rose saw Draco Malfoy, sitting in the last row of the groom's section, smiling proudly.

XXX

"I didn't expect you to come," Rose said to Draco, just before her first dance with her husband. "I see that you got my letter then."

"Yours and Scorpius'," Draco nodded.

Rose stood up straighter. "He invited you? I didn't think he would. That's why I invited you."

"Yes, he said that in his letter," Draco nodded.

Rose frowned, "He knew that I wrote you?"

"He figured. I suppose that he just knows you that well," Draco grinned and Rose laughed.

"I guess he does."

"I think you're keeping him waiting, by the way," Draco pointed over to where Scorpius was standing alone on the dance floor. Rose smiled, nodded at Draco, and hurried over to her husband.

XXX

"I didn't think you'd come," Scorpius said in a strangled voice. He wasn't looking at Draco. He was just watching Rose who was dancing her father.

"That's what Rose said," Draco replied, quietly. "You two are a lot alike."

"Thank you," Scorpius still didn't look at him.

"How's Weas…Ron taking it?" he asked, not really sure what to say.

"Ron? He's fine. Ever since I first had dinner at Rose's, Ron and Hermione have liked me," Scorpius explained. "Quidditch is what made him warm up to me. He's a Cannon's fan too. We bad-mouth the Tornados all the time."

"Shame," Draco grinned. "And here I was thinking about burying the hatchet."

"I missed you, Dad," Scorpius finally turned to face his father.

"I missed you, too," Draco said, hugging him.

They broke apart and heard Hermione Weasley say, "May I cut in?" Ron left Rose to go dance with Hermione which left Rose standing there alone.

"If you'll excuse me," Scorpius said and he hurried over to go dance with his wife.

XXX

Draco got home late that night to see two plates and two half empty glasses of wine on the table. One of them had lipstick on the rim. The other didn't.

He walked down into the living room. Astoria was reading the Daily Prophet as though nothing were wrong. "Who was over for dinner?" he asked her and she jumped.

"Draco! I didn't hear you come in!" she said flustered. She was never flustered. She was always angry with him for something.

"Who came over for dinner?" he asked her again.

"What?" she asked, trying to act normally.

"There are two places set for dinner," he said. "Who was over?"

"Oh, Daphne came over while you and Blaise were out," she invented. "I didn't bother to clean up. I'll do that now," she stood up to leave, but Draco stopped her.

"You and I both know that I wasn't out with Blaise," he said. "and that Daphne was here. In fact, I think that Blaise said that they were visiting their daughter weekend. Who was over here?"

"It was nothing! We just had dinner! It won't happen again! I…." she cried, but Draco had already left the room and went into their bedroom. He conjured up a suitcase and began dumping his clothes into it.

"Draco! No! What are you doing!" she cried as she entered the room. "Listen, I…."

"It doesn't matter," Draco shrugged. He'd been hoping this day would come for years now and it finally came.

"Listen, I know that you were at Scorpius' wedding," her voice suddenly became deadly, "but I'm willing to put that behind us if you forget….about what happened earlier."

"Why should I?" he asked. His voice held no emotion. He was more worried about finding his brown shoes than anything else at the moment.

"Because do you know what this looks like!" she cried. "What will people think if they find out that I had an affair and then you just leave! That looks horrible!"

"You should have thought about that before you did it," Draco said calmly. "Actually, you shouldn't have. Because then you probably wouldn't have done it." After finding his brown shoes, he shoved them in the suitcase and turned to leave, but something stopped him. "Who?"

"Theodore Nott," she said, tears streaming down her face. He nodded and disapparated. Astoria fell to the floor, sobbing.

XXX

Two days after her daughter's wedding, Hermione Weasley was already back to work. Her husband had told her that she shouldn't go back so soon, but something told her that she should. That afternoon, just as she was about to leave, someone stopped her. It was the last person that she would have ever expected to see.

Draco Malfoy was standing outside her office door, waiting for her. What's even more surprising, was what he first said to her. "I need a lawyer."

"What?" She was too shocked to even register what he'd said.

"Astoria and I are getting a divorce," he said. "I need a lawyer. Knowing her, she'll probably get one who will try to get everything I own off of me," he grumbled the last sentence bitterly.

Still stunned, Hermione asked, "Why are you coming to me?"

"You work in Magical Law Enforcement. You probably work with lawyers all the time. Surely you know some good ones," he said, calmly.

"Um," she pulled a quill and a piece of parchment of her bag and scribbled a few names on it. "Here are some lawyers I've worked with. I don't know if any of them do divorces, but you could always check," she handed him the paper.

"Thank you," he said cheerfully.

"And I'm sorry," she said.

"It's fine," Draco shrugged. "Thanks for your help." With that, he disapparated, leaving Hermione still looking shocked.

XXX

Draco Malfoy left the courtroom in a good mood. Astoria had been particularly hateful, but then again, wasn't she always? Draco, who felt that the divorce had gone much better than it could have or even than he ever would have expected, did not appear that anything could have ruined his mood.

Draco didn't know where to go from here. He didn't really need to get a job; he was still filthy rich. He could always spend more time with his friends, though, the few that he'd ever had were all would probably look down on him for his divorce. He could meet someone new. Someone that he actually cared about; not just a pureblood. He didn't know. He would mend his relationship with his son and meet his new daughter-in-law, both of which had been standing in the back of the courtroom the entire time and smiling proudly at him. What he did know was that he was free. His future was all his.


End file.
